In His Image
by I.Steel
Summary: Lt. Anderson confirms a shocking realization about Connor.


Hank Anderson sighed as he sat at his desk; leaning forward, elbows resting on the desk with hands clasped in contemplation. The subject of this contemplation, his android partner Connor, sat across from Hank at his own desk. His eyes were currently closed; which Hank now knew to be him making a report to his superiors at Cyberlife.

Not long ago, he and Connor had attempted to track down and capture a deviant; a housekeeper model that had a child with deviant ended up running across the street with the child, barely dodging the high-speed traffic. Connor, ever determined to complete his mission, attempted to do the same...only to be held back and ordered to stop by Hank. Earlier still, during an interrogation of another deviant, the situation escalated; another officer named Gavin Reed pulled a gun on Connor...to which Hank responded by drawing his own gun to stop Gavin.

To say that Hank was very confused about all this was an understatement. What did he care what happened to Connor? He was an android, not a person! He didn't even like the thing! And why did he look so damn _familiar?_

Hank couldn't stand it; there was just something about Connor that struck a chord with him deep in his being, bringing out feelings he'd never felt since…

Hank's eyes widened as all the puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place, and he came to a mind-blowing realization. Quickly, he brought up a police program designed to track down missing children. From the computer's hard drive, he accessed a picture of a male child, barely six years old. He accessed the age progression tool of the program, advancing it forward by 20 years…

Hank ran a shaking hand over his full gray beard, eyes wide as saucers in shock. "Oh, my God." He whispered.

"Lieutenant Anderson?"

Hank startled at Connor's sudden voice, looking over to see that he was now fully cognizant, eyes open and looking at Hank with what appeared to be concern.

Hank quickly tapped a button to end the program. He cleared his throat, "Yes, Connor, what is it?"

"Are you alright?" Connor asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Hank replied, before standing up from his desk. "I've got some personal stuff I gotta deal with, I'll be back."

Connor was silent for a moment, the LED on his temple flashing yellow momentarily before returning to a normal blue glow. "Of course, Lieutenant. Please contact me when you're ready to continue the investigation."

"Why? Hank replied, walking away. "You're just gonna come after me anyway, right?"

Hank sat in one of the chairs of the immaculately clean and tastefully decorated room. His arms were crossed and a scowl was forming on his face, as he'd been waiting for over half an hour now. Nearby, there was a large polished wooden desk, where a secretary android worked diligently. Hank stared hard at the polished oak door, the name and title of "Dr. Tiffany Kane, Head of Research & Development" a stark reminder of the past; at one point her last name was "Anderson." Over a decade ago, she worked with Hank back when he was part of the Red Ice Task Force; somebody within Cyberlife had been supplying blue blood for making the drug, and Tiffany was the one assigned to help them find the culprit. Afterwards, she and Hank pursued a relationship; marrying and having a son, Cole, over two years later. They raised Cole together for six years...until tragically, the boy died, and the two of them were never the same. Their mutual grief and individual methods of handling that grief effectively ended their marriage.

After the initial shock wore off, Hank was getting angrier by the minute. The fact that his ex-wife was clearly brushing him off as usual did nothing to help. "Screw this." He said, finally standing up and storming towards the offending door. The android secretary was quick to get up and attempt to intercept him, Hank quickly kicking the door open before it could receive any kind of signal to lock.

A woman with graying auburn hair looked up from her desk with a start, briefly shocked before frowning. She took off her glasses with a sigh as Hank approached, followed closely by the android secretary. "You're not ignoring me, Tiffany, not this time!" Hank nearly shouted.

The secretary spoke up, "I've called security, Doctor, they're…"

Tiffany raised a hand to stop her assistant. "It's alright, Lucy, please call off security... it's just my ex-husband."

Lucy looked between the two humans briefly before nodding, her flashing yellow LED slowly shifting back to blue. "Yes Doctor." She said, before returning to her desk.

Once they were alone, Tiffany asked, "What are you doing here, Hank?"

"You know damn well why I'm here!" Hank replied, "You've seen the news, might have even received Connor's reports. You think I wouldn't have figured it out? I'm not the man I used to be, but I'm not an idiot!" He leaned on Tiffany's desk, his gaze boring into her. "I hear you're making android kids now; if you wanted to replace him, you could've just…"

Tiffany slapped Hank hard, standing up to meet his scowl with her own enraged glare. "Bastard! How dare you! I loved Cole EVERY BIT as much as you!"

Undaunted, Hank retorted, "And THIS is how you show it? By making this...this MOCKERY of him!?"

"Connor's not a mockery, he's a monument!" Tiffany argued, "Cole looked up to you, wanted to be like you, even then! I had no doubt in my mind the kind of man he would have become!"

Hank growled, pacing around the office. "I can't believe you did this; every time I look at Connor now, I'm gonna see... DAMNIT!"

"What is so bad about that?" Tiffany said, "Do you hate androids THAT much?"

Hank whirled around to face her, enraged. "How can you NOT!? Cole DIED because of-"

"No man or machine could have saved him, Hank!" Tiffany said, her eyes brimming with tears, "I wish it weren't true, but it is! And like you, I have to make myself live through each day knowing my baby's gone…"

Her voice broke as she leaned on her desk, shoulders shaking. Hank's heart broke as he knew she was in as much pain as he was over Cole's loss. He walked over and gently took Tiffany into his arms. She accepted the embrace. "He would have been nine this week." She said.

"I know." Hank replied.

Finally, they separated, looking into each other's eyes, wiping their respective tears away. Tiffany was the first to speak. "Connor isn't Cole; he's Cole's memory, his legacy... that's all I intended it to be... I never expected him to be assigned to you, and I'm sorry for that."

Hank sighed. "I'm sorry too; I know you'd never want to replace Cole...that was a low blow. Goodbye, Tiffany."

With that, Hank left. As he made his way to his car, he found himself once more in quiet contemplation. He now knew far more about Connor now than he bargained for, and what he would do with this knowledge in the future remained to be seen.

For now, though, he needed a drink.


End file.
